The Doctor Zone
by AbhainnGealach
Summary: Doctor Who/Dead Zone Xover John Smith encounters a strange doctor and some nasty aliens...what a day to be a psychic! COMPLETE Please review.
1. Chapter 1

My first attempt. Feel free to review.

I don't own Dead Zone or Dr. Who...wish I did.

**The Doctor Zone**

**Chapter 1**

_It came toward her, the strange noise all around… closer and closer… a blur of blue in the shape of a rectangular box…_

Alex sat bolt upright in bed, shaking and trying to catch her breath. It was the same dream she'd been having every night this week.

"Alex, are you okay?" Johnny mumbled sleepily as he sat up next to her. "Alex, you're shaking, what's wrong?"

"I had that dream again, that big blue box thing and that noise." She covered her ears as if she could still hear it echoing in her mind. She felt Johnny's arms encircle her and leaned against him, her shaking slowly stopping now that she was safe with him holding her.

"Are you going to be okay?" he asked, taking her face in his hands and looking into her eyes. She could see he was concerned and worried about her.

"Yes, I… it's fading away now," she said softly, and managed a smile.

"Good, because we have to get to JJ's hockey game." He jumped out of the bed and leaned over her, grinning. "So get a move on slowpoke!" he scolded and smacked her lightly on her bottom.

"JOHNNY!" she shrieked in mock outrage and jumped off the bed and chased him as he ran laughing into the bathroom.

******

"YEAH!" Johnny shouted, turning to high-five Bruce and then Alex when JJ scored the winning goal.

The crowd was hurrying toward the ice to lift the players and carry them off and Johnny froze, wide eyed, overwhelmed at the visions that assaulted him.

"Bruce, help," Alex gasped and the two of them grabbed Johnny's arms to pull him away from the people. Once in the clear, Johnny jerked and shook his head.

"John, my man, what happened?" Bruce asked as he slowly let go of Johnny's arm.

"I… I don't know…" Johnny trailed off glancing at Alex. "I'm okay now," he smiled weakly at her. He held out his keys to her.

"Hey, you guys, come on!" Sarah shouted over. "It's victory pizza time!"

"Yeah, come on Dad!" JJ waved at him.

Johnny waved his hand at them in a "go on" gesture. "I'll be there in a minute. Alex, why don't you go ahead and get the car started? We'll follow you."

"Okay," she looked at him once more with her brow furrowed in worry and then walked slowly toward the parking area.

"Bruce," Johnny said softly when he was sure Alex was out of earshot, "I had another vision, of Armageddon…" he trailed off.

"But you only get those when you touch Stillson," Bruce argued as he and Johnny started to walk to the car. "How could you get one now? Stillson's not here."

"I don't know but I saw this… I don't know how to describe it. It looked like some sort of toy or machine or something, rolling along the ground. What if… what if… I don't know… maybe now that they have the means to make that baseball sized bomb I saw… maybe they came up with a new way to move it around? Maybe that's why Alex is having these dreams about a blue box… and now I had this vision of these machines or whatever they are. Maybe they'll put the warheads in these machines and they'll be sent everywhere in these blue boxes and no one will know what they are until it's too late…" he trailed off again.

"John, come on, I think that's stretching a bit don't you? I mean, putting the warhead in a toy or something? That's just sick, John, think about it."

"I know, that's why it bothers me… I'm just guessing anyway… I'm not seeing the whole picture here I'm sure." he sighed. "Come on, let's go eat some pizza."

"That's more like it," Bruce agreed, clapping Johnny on the shoulder before they climbed into the car.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

After the victory celebration, Johnny and Alex walked along the sidewalk, enjoying the brisk air and sunshine.

"Oh," Alex said as they passed a bookstore, "there's a book I want to pick up. You go on, I'll meet you at the market."

"Okay, do you still want pasta for dinner?" he asked.

They looked at each other for a moment and then burst out laughing.

"Go get the food," she said, still chuckling and giving him a gentle push.

"Your wish is my command," he said with a bow and dodged her attempt to smack his shoulder. She rolled her eyes.

"This is what I get for having a psychic for a boyfriend," she mock-sighed.

He laughed in response and headed off down the sidewalk again toward the market around the corner.

"Hurry," he called over his shoulder at her, "or you might not get pasta."

She stuck her tongue out at him and went into the bookstore, chuckling.

John was just approaching the corner when something barreled into him. Visions he couldn't connect flooded his mind and he stopped, grabbing his head with his hands.

"Oh, I'm so sorry, I didn't even see you. Are you okay?"

The voice was female, and British and Johnny raised his head to stare unseeing at the blonde girl looking at him, her huge eyes filled with concern.

"Can I help you?" she asked, reaching a hand out toward him. He shuffled backward, still staring sightlessly but somehow straight into the girl's eyes. The visions wouldn't stop, wave after wave of unconnected images he couldn't see clearly smashed over him and a moan escaped his mouth.

"JOHNNY!"

The blonde girl looked up from the man who was still staring/not staring at her to see a woman running down the sidewalk towards them, fear twisting her pretty face.

"Johnny," Alex's voice was strained as she barely put her arms out in time to catch him as he crumpled.

"Is he okay? I swear I only bumped into him," the blonde girl asked worriedly.

Alex looked at the girl as she clutched Johnny tightly to her, holding him up.

"Who are you?" she managed to ask at last, her voice full of suspicion.

The blonde girl looked startled, her large eyes widening in surprise at the sound of the woman's voice. "My name's Rose," she answered, fear of this woman and concern for the man making her voice soft. "Rose Tyler… I'm… I'm nobody really. I was just turning this corner in a bit of a rush and bumped into him. I swear I didn't do anything, I just bumped into him," she finished in confusion, at a loss of what else to say. She raised her hands in front of her in a gesture of apology and let them drop at her sides again.

"I don't know if he's okay," the woman said, her voice thick. She looked at the man in her arms and Rose could see she was close to tears.

"Can I help?" Rose asked cautiously.

"Who are you?" the woman demanded again. Rose backed up a step at the sharpness of the woman's tone.

"I told you who I am," she responded, a slight frown crossing her features as she crossed her arms across her chest defensively.

"He's psychic," the woman said softly, almost to herself, "one touch is all it takes." She looked up at Rose. "You…"

"What?" Rose asked, defiance making her question harsh.

"You bumped into him, he must have had a vision, and look…" the woman trailed off as she looked at the unconscious man she held close.

"Johnny," the woman whispered, stroking the man's cheek. "I can't see what he saw, I can't see what did this to him." The woman's voice was full of pain.

"I… I… what?" Rose broke off as she listened to the woman. So, this man was a psychic and clearly this woman was too… but…

"Johnny, come on, what did you see?" the woman asked in a strangled whisper.

"Rose, there you are!"

The woman looked up at the sound of the voice and saw a man wearing jeans, a tshirt and black leather jacket walking quickly toward them. He smiled, a large, friendly smile.

"Rose, I wondered where you'd got to. I keep telling you don't run off, but you never listen, do I have to start tying you up to keep you from wandering about?" he scolded.

"Doctor," Rose began, then turned to look at the man called Johnny and the woman holding him.

"Rose, what's going on?" the Doctor asked, now catching sight of the couple standing near Rose.

"I didn't do anything, Doctor. I was going around the corner here and bumped into him, he just… stared at me… then he like collapsed. That woman caught him before he fell and she says his name is Johnny and that he's psychic…" Rose trailed off at the Doctor's expression.

"Really?" he said as he leaned over with his hands on his knees to peer at Johnny's face. "Fantastic!"

"Doctor," Rose sighed in exasperation. "She thinks I did something to him. She said he touches things and I bumped into him."

"Really?" the Doctor grinned in delight. "That's br… uh… won… er… fantastic!" He gave his head a slight shake.

"Doctor," Rose said in a louder tone, clearly annoyed. He looked up at her concerned face. "Right," he said becoming businesslike. He stood up straight and keeping the friendly smile on his face walked a few steps closer to the couple.

"I'm the Doctor and Rose you've met. She travels with me as my assistant. I'm sure she didn't mean anything by knocking your friend down, she's like a footballer you know…" he broke off and rolled his eyes in a mock-exasperated manner.

"Doctor, I didn't knock him down, I just bumped into him. He passed out a few minutes later," Rose explained again.

But the Doctor wasn't listening to her, he was looking at the woman who was staring at him, her eyes wide with fear.

"_It's all my fault. I could have stopped it happening a long time ago…"_

Alex flinched away from the other man approaching her. He had curly brown hair covered by a hat and wore a long coat and an even longer scarf that he seemed in constant danger of stepping on as he walked closer to her, his long mobile face twisted with anguish.

"_I had the chance, over and over again… why didn't I do things different…"_

Another man was also walking toward her now. He wore a cream colored suit of some sort, and a hat. He had short blonde hair and also a look of loss on his handsome features.

"_I could not have predicted it would come to this…"_

Another man, and then another began to walk towards her, all of them with expressions of such pain and sadness Alex wanted to curl up and wail. She could only back away, terrified, dragging Johnny with her. She didn't even realize she was shaking her head and moaning "no, no, keep away" as she kept backing up. The men kept coming closer, surrounding her and her head whipped around frantically as she tried to find an escape.

"Doctor, what's happening?" Rose asked, worry straining her voice as she watched the woman backing away, clearly terrified.

"I don't know, I can't say I've ever seen anything like this. You say she's psychic too?"

"Yeah, that's what she said, do you think she's… ummm… like… seeing something?" Rose's voice dropped to a whisper.

"I think so but…" he pulled his sonic screwdriver from his pocket and pointed it at the woman. "There is an incredible amount of energy here. She's really seeing something and clearly it's something horrifying but…" he broke off, looking thoughtful and somehow worried. The Doctor had always tried to avoid psychic types in the past. He never wanted to think about what might happen and now, here, he and Rose had encountered two of them. Whatever the man saw about Rose had made him collapse and this woman was clearly seeing something horrifying as well.

"Keep away from me!" the woman screamed. "Back off, all of you, leave me alone!"

The Doctor stared at the woman, startled out of his reverie by her scream. He pointed the screwdriver at her again and shook his head in confusion.

"She thinks she's surrounded it seems," he said, more to himself than to Rose who stood close behind him. "But by what… or who?"

"_Could have stopped it…"_

"_Should have known somehow…"_

"_It's all my fault…"_

"_My fault…"_

"_My fault…"_

The eight men, all different, yet somehow Alex sensed they were the same, kept crowding closer, their faces masks of misery. She pulled Johnny as tightly to her as she could and pressed herself against the wall, eyes squeezed shut.

"Go away, please, stop," she sobbed, slowly sagging to the ground.

"Doctor!" Rose cried.

He ran to the woman, not knowing exactly what he could do to help. He raised the screwdriver, changing settings at random, trying to somehow dispel the energy if he could. Rose was close behind him. He reached the woman as she slid to the ground, her head bowed, tears pouring down her face. Her head suddenly shot up and she stared straight into the Doctor's eyes.

"It's you…" she gasped and she dropped her head again, burying her face in Johnny's hair, her shoulders shaking with the force of her sobs.

The Doctor rocked back on his heels at her statement and looked up at Rose in confusion. She too, looked baffled and could only shrug her shoulders in answer to his unspoken question.

"Doctor, we can't leave them here like this," she finally said quietly.

"I know, but… errm…" he looked a bit shamefaced, "I don't want to touch them." His arms had dropped limply to his sides in surrender after he pocketed the screwdriver again.

"Well…" Rose began, gnawing at her lip in consternation, "maybe I should go find some help?" She tilted her head to one side uncertainly.

"That might be a good idea, Rose. I'll… stay here…" his brow wrinkled again as he looked at the sobbing woman and unconscious man. "I'll… just… hurry Rose…" he broke off again.

She straightened and looked left and right in momentary indecision, then started running down the sidewalk. She hurried into the bookstore Alex had been in earlier and rushed up to the counter.

"Please," she gasped, out of breath. "There's this man… called Johnny?"

The clerk looked up from his paperwork at her. "What about Johnny?"

"He's… like… collapsed… just down the sidewalk. There's this lady with him and she's real upset… crying…" Rose managed to gasp out.

The clerk jerked in startlement and then rushed to the phone behind the counter. "I'll call Walt miss, he's the sheriff…" he started dialing.

"Thanks…" she breathed and leaned on the counter wondering over the strange effect she and the Doctor had had on a couple of psychics and at the same time… not wanting to know why.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

A few minutes after receiving the call, Sheriff Bannerman pulled up to the corner where Johnny had collapsed. He took in Johnny's crumpled form, Alex huddled next to him, and the two strangers standing nearby. He sighed and opened the door of his cruiser. "This is not going to be my day," he muttered to himself and he pulled his notebook from his pocket and approached the strangers.

"I'm Sheriff Walt Bannerman, the ambulance is on it's way." He looked the two strangers over as he pulled out a pen. "So, why don't you start by telling me who you are and what happened here exactly."

"I'm the Doctor," the Doctor replied, flashing a toothy smile and extending his hand. "This is my assistant Rose Tyler," he gestured with his other hand toward Rose.

"Doctor… who exactly?" Walt raised his eyes from his notebook.

"Just the Doctor," the Doctor replied succinctly.

Walt gazed steadily at the Doctor as the man flashed another toothy smile and sighed. "Right, just the Doctor," and lowered his eyes to his notebook to write that down.

"Now, what exactly happened here?" He looked from the Doctor to Rose expectantly.

"Well, um, I was walking around the corner there and bumped into, Johnny, right?" Rose explained with a quick glance at the Sheriff to confirm Johnny's name.

"Go on," he prompted.

"That's about it," she shrugged.

"So you walked around the corner and bumped into John and knocked him down, is that it?" he clarified.

"No," Rose corrected defensively, "I only barely bumped him, not even hard enough to knock him down. But see, when I bumped into him, he just like went sort of stiff and just stared at me, it felt like forever, and then he just collapsed."

Walt gazed steadily at the girl but could see nothing about her manner to suggest she was lying. "I see," he said finally. He turned his head and watched the ambulance pull up, followed closely by Deputy Roscoe.

"Okay," he began as he flipped his notebook shut with a practiced motion and tucked it back into his jacket pocket. He jabbed his finger at Rose and the Doctor. "You two stay right here, I still need to ask you some questions so don't even think about leaving."

The Doctor and Rose looked at each other and then back at the Sheriff.

"Okay," the Doctor replied brightly and Rose nodded.

"Good," he turned his attention to Alex, hunkered down next to her and put a gentle hand on her shoulder. "Alex? Alex, it's Walt. Come on, the ambulance is here and they'll take care of John."

Alex turned her tear-streaked face up to his, looked at him blindly for a moment and then slowly blinked. He took her arms and helped her to her feet as the paramedics loaded Johnny onto a stretcher and carried him to the ambulance. Alex glanced at Rose and the man with her before looking back at Walt.

"I think he'll be okay," she managed to whisper.

"He'll be fine," Walt comforted and then turned to gesture at Roscoe. "Roscoe, get these two in a car and take them to the station. I'm going to call Sarah and have her take Alex over to the hospital."

Roscoe waved his hand at the Doctor and Rose as he opened the back door of his car for them.

"Come on, get in."

The Doctor practically bounced to the car with Rose following more sedately behind. The Doctor got in the car and moved over for Rose to sit next to him.

"I love being arrested," the Doctor commented gaily. Rose glared at him.

Roscoe shot a quick glance at Walt and then got in the car himself.

"Are you going to lock us up?" the Doctor asked excitedly.

Roscoe looked at him in mixed confusion while Rose crossed her arms and gave the Doctor a look filled with daggers.

"Walt didn't say anything about arresting you, he just said to take you to the station," Roscoe finally answered.

"Oh," the Doctor's face fell a bit, then he shrugged and turned a bright smile at Rose, who snorted and looked away.

Roscoe started the car and drove off to the station. Walt watched him drive away as he pulled out his cell phone and called Sarah to come and get Alex. As he dialed the phone, he watched her stare after the strangers in Roscoe's car.

"He's dangerous," Alex barely whispered and Walt glanced at her in surprise. She met his gaze. "That man, he's dangerous."

"In what way?" Walt asked worriedly.

"I don't know, but, well," she paused, her face screwed up with confusion, "destruction follows him around," she finished.

"Destruction follows him around," Walt echoed. "That's just what we need."

He sighed as Sarah answered the phone and agreed to come pick up Alex.


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

Johnny woke up in the hospital bed not sure at first where he was. He looked around frantically and then relaxed as he realized where he was and the visions were over. He dropped back to the pillow with a heavy sigh. The visions he'd gotten from that girl who bumped into him were like none he'd ever seen before. His head still spun. His memory slowly returned and he realized the visions must have overloaded him and he'd passed out. But Alex had been there, he realized somehow that she'd caught him and the visions had been thankfully chased away at her touch.

And then he'd fainted, collapsed into darkness. The visions had followed him down into darkness though. They'd become strange almost-dreams, traveling in space? Had he really seen that? And the bright light, was she going to die? And the strange man always with her, or actually, it was she who was always with him. And he saw a blue box… a blue box? Alex had been dreaming about something she called a blue box. But he'd been thinking a regular sort of box, this that he'd seen in his visions was anything but a regular sort of box, not by any stretch of the imagination. And the whole thing, all the dream visions, were mixed in with his visions of Armageddon. The visions that until now he'd generally only got when he touched that monster Stillson.

He closed his eyes and took a deep breath. He wondered where Alex was and hoped she was all right. Somehow during those dreams he'd felt, he'd known, that she was terrified. He also knew it wasn't only about him and the fact that he'd collapsed. He wondered if she had had the same sort of visions from that girl who'd bumped into him. They would have scared anyone. He realized he, himself, was still feeling anxiety and, yes, to be honest, a bit of fear left over from those visions. He knew he needed to talk to that girl, if he could find her again. He remembered her voice and she'd had an accent. She wasn't a local product which could make finding her both easier and more difficult. She could be gone already. Gone, gone in that blue box. Now what on earth had made him think that?

He looked up as the door to his room opened. Dr. Gibson entered followed closely by Sarah and Alex.

"Hi, John, how are you feeling?" Dr. Gibson asked brightly. "Glad to see you're awake."

"Johnny," Alex cried as she ran to his bed and sat in the chair next to the bed, clutching his hand in hers.

"Hey," he said to Alex soothingly. He turned to Dr. Gibson and Sarah, "I feel fine."

"No headaches or dizziness?" She checked his eyes and then felt his pulse.

"No, not at all, just a bit confused though," he answered when she'd finished.

"Walt took those two people to the station to talk to them some more," Sarah said as she walked up to stand next to the bed.

"Two people?" Johnny asked. "There was only that girl, the one that bumped into me," he looked at Alex.

"There was a man," Alex explained. "He joined her after you passed out. He called himself the Doctor and… and…" her face crumpled. "Oh, Johnny, I had the most awful visions off him, he's dangerous. I'm scared," she finished, her voice barely above a whisper.

He looked at Sarah and Dr. Gibson.

"I'm sure you think you're fine John, but I'd really like to run some tests…" Dr. Gibson began.

"No, no tests this time, sorry Doc." He gently removed his hand from Alex's grip. "I think I need to get over to the station. I need to know more about these people before they run off."

Dr. Gibson rolled her eyes and threw her hands in the air in surrender.

"John," she leveled a finger at him, "you had better get these tests scheduled, no, not just scheduled, you better just get in here and do them, I am warning you."

Johnny smiled what he hoped was a charming smile at the doctor. "I promise."

"Right," she said and turned to leave. "Promises, promises."

"I can drive you over to the station. I'm sure Walt would like you to be there. I don't think he knows what to make of these people, he sounded really annoyed on the phone."

"Yeah, Walt was born annoyed I think," Johnny commented as he went into the bathroom to get dressed. Sarah giggled.

"I picked Bruce up before I got Alex, he's got your car. He said he'd take it to your house."

"Thanks Sarah," Johnny said as he came out of the bathroom. "Okay, I'm ready," he said as he finished tying his shoes.

He looked at Alex. "Come on, we need to do this. I need to find out why I had the visions I had from that girl. I think you need some answers too."

Alex grimaced but stood up. "Okay," she agreed, "let's go." She took Johnny's outstretched hand in her own and they followed Sarah out.


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5**

As they approached Walt's private office, Johnny glanced at Alex, who had tensed up when she caught sight of the two people in the office with Walt. He patted her hand on his arm reassuringly.

"It's okay, I really think we need to talk to these people. I didn't want to say anything when we were in the car with Sarah, but some of the visions I got off the girl had to do with Armageddon."

Alex glanced at him, wide-eyed with surprise and then focused on the two strangers again. "It figures," she mumbled.

He looked sideways at her and then opened the door and walked into Walt's office.

"Feeling better, John?" Walt looked up as he and Alex entered the office but quickly looked back at the two people seated across the desk from him. Sarah was right, he looked extremely annoyed. Johnny followed his gaze to the two strangers, the blonde girl he'd bumped into and the man Alex had mentioned.

The man jumped up from the chair and smiled widely at Johnny, extending his hand.

"I'm the Doctor," he said brightly, ignoring the fact that Johnny kept his hand firmly at his side and the other on Alex. "Rose, I think you've met, so to speak." He gestured vaguely behind him at the blonde girl still seated in front of Walt's desk.

Johnny just looked at the Doctor, one eyebrow raised, then he replied, "John Smith." He ignored the strange look of surprise on the Doctor's face and looked over at Walt, who stood up.

"Well, it sounds like this girl," Walt began, breaking off at the sound of the blonde girl quietly clearing her throat, "sorry, Rose," he gave her a slight nod, "it sounds like she only bumped into you. She swears she didn't actually knock you down, and he didn't show up until after you'd collapsed," he waved a hand in the Doctor's direction. "So, I'm not holding them for assault or anything unless Alex saw Rose knock you down or something." He looked at Alex.

"No, she didn't," Alex said softly. "From what I saw she only barely bumped him."

"Okay, that's all I need to know then," Walt said in a relieved tone. "Get these people out of my office, then, okay John? I have work to do." Walt frowned at the pair.

"Sure, Walt, thanks."

"Yeah, don't mention it John, I _mean _it, don't mention it." Walt waved his hands in a shooing gesture. "Go on, out."

The Doctor flashed a winning smile at Walt. "Nice to meet you Sheriff," he held out his hand to Rose. "Come on, Rose."

"Yeah, I'm sure," Walt said flatly and sat back down behind his desk.

Johnny glanced at the Doctor, who waved his hand in a "lead on" gesture. He raised his eyebrow again and walked out of Walt's office, the Doctor and Rose following behind.

"So, Rose tells me you're a psychic, er, Mr. Smith," the Doctor began.

"Just call me John and yes, I am," Johnny answered. The four of them walked out onto the sidewalk and Johnny started in the direction of his house. "Bruce has my car," he mumbled to himself and continued walking. "This is Alex," he patted her arm.

"Hello, Alex," the Doctor said cheerily, "pleased to meet you, well, formally introduced as it were."

Alex frowned slightly then smoothed her face.

"And you're a psychic as well, that's fantastic!" the Doctor exclaimed. Johnny raised an eyebrow at the comment and looked at Alex. "I'm sorry," the Doctor continued, "it's just I'm not very often around psychics you understand. Actually, I do tend to avoid them, a bit." His smile faltered slightly.

"I can see why," Alex muttered, earning another glance from Johnny as the Doctor's eyes widened.

"Well, I need to talk to you," Johnny said as he looked at the Doctor again and included Rose in his look, "both of you. I got some very strange visions from touching her," he indicated Rose, "and I want some answers. We're going to my house. I'll fix you something to eat, too, you're both probably hungry. I know I am."

"We'd love to!" the Doctor said excitedly. "May I ask, were you born psychic?"

"Yes, you can and no I wasn't. I was in a car accident. I went into a coma for six years and when I woke up I started having visions. I touch things, or people, and most of the time I have visions about them, things from their past, or their future."

"Fascinating," the Doctor replied enthusiastically. "Really, that's quite fantastic."

"Well, I'm glad you think so," Johnny replied dryly. "I often wish I didn't."

"Yes, I'm sure," the Doctor agreed. "So, when Rose bumped into you on the street, what did you see?"

"Here's my house," Johnny said, changing the subject as he headed up the driveway, "we can talk about that inside. I think I'd rather be sitting down for this." He pulled his housekeys out of his pocket as they approached the door.

"Yes, well," the Doctor replied.

Johnny opened the door and the four entered the house.

"Wow," Rose breathed, looking around, "this is, wow, it's beautiful."

"It's home," Johnny commented back in a deprecating tone. "The kitchen's through here."

As they headed for the kitchen, Alex finally let go of Johnny's arm and moved to sit down. The Doctor followed her.

"And you, Miss, Alex was it? How are you a psychic?"

Alex flinched slightly away from the Doctor. "I was attacked by a swarm of bees, I nearly died, that's it," she answered flatly. She moved around the kitchen to help Johnny prepare some food as the two sat down at the kitchen counter. Alex helped Johnny make sandwiches and then he poured glasses of iced tea and they all moved to sit at the table.

"Okay," Johnny began after they had all wolfed down at least one sandwich each. "I'm going to be straight with you people and tell you some things most people don't know, about my visions."

The Doctor sat up expectantly, his eyes brightening with curiosity. Johnny raised an eyebrow at this but continued speaking.

"For a couple years now, I guess, I've been having visions of Armageddon," he raised a hand to stave off comments. "Now, before, the only times I had these visions was when I touched this man, his name's Greg Stillson, he's a Congressman now." Johnny frowned.

"Today, when Rose bumped into me, I had them again, but this time all mixed up with visions that I assume have to do with you and with her past and future. It's hard to remember now. Earlier today, though, before our, encounter, I had a different vision, but also about Armageddon." Johnny shifted in his chair, trying to gather his thoughts. "Alex started it off this morning I think. She woke up, saying she was having nightmares about a blue box." He looked at Alex, who nodded.

"When we were leaving JJ's hockey game I had this other vision. It was Armageddon but I also had visions of these things, they looked like toys and I told Bruce that I thought maybe that was how the nuclear warheads were going to be, well, um, put out there. You see, this former student of mine created these polymers and I had a vision that the government was going to make a nuclear bomb out of this material, a very small bomb, about the size of a baseball," he made a shape with his hand. "I thought maybe Alex's dreams about a blue box was the box these little toy-things were going to be delivered in. Now that I've met you two, I'm not so sure about that."

The Doctor opened his mouth but Alex rounded on him abruptly, "Who were those men with you?" she burst out.

The Doctor's mouth hung open, in surprise and he shut it quickly. "Wh-what men? I assure you, only Rose and I were there."

"When you walked up," she continued in response, "these other men, showed up. They were, oh, they were so sad. No, more than even that," she closed her eyes, "there was remorse, and so, so very much pain, I couldn't stand it, and the guilt, they all kept saying things like 'it's all my fault'. I," she stopped and looked at the Doctor, her eyes sad, "I thought my heart was breaking."

"Um," was all the Doctor seemed to be able to say. Rose stared at him. He looked down at the table and toyed with a piece of crust.

Johnny patted Alex's arm and then looked at the Doctor. "Maybe you better tell us who you are, who you both are," he said firmly.

"Yes," the Doctor agreed softly, "I think I should," he paused, "I'm the Doctor and I'm a Time Lord from the planet Gallifrey."

Now it was Johnny and Alex's turn to look skeptical. "You, you're from another planet?" Johnny asked, not quite believing.

"Yes. I'm 903 years old and I've been, well, there really isn't anywhere I haven't been actually. Rose is human, she's from here, Earth, London actually, from this time period. You see, that blue box is my TARDIS, it's my ship, Time And Relative Dimension In Space, T A R D I S, you see? I travel through space as well as time and I am the last of my kind." He bowed his head a moment.

"What about those other men in my vision?" Alex interrupted. "They were you, I'm sure of it somehow, but not you."

"As a Time Lord, I don't actually die, I regenerate. I would imagine those other 'men' as you say, were my past lives. This is my ninth regeneration right now."

"There were eight other men in my vision," Alex agreed.

"So," said the Doctor, bouncing back, "Rose and I travel around the whole wide universe and we came to Earth today because Rose was wanting to visit her mother," he paused as Rose stood up.

"I should call mum actually, she'll be wondering why we're not there," Rose gave the Doctor an accusatory glance to match her tone. "She's probably got a nice tea all laid on," she pulled out a cell phone and started dialing. The Doctor rolled his eyes.

"Oh, please no," he muttered when Rose had stepped away. He looked at Johnny and Alex. "Rose's mum…" he broke off and shuddered theatrically. Alex and Johnny grinned.

"Now," the Doctor said, rubbing his hands together, "where should we start?" He looked back and forth between Alex and Johnny.

"Um, I'm really not sure. I only get pieces of things in my visions most of the time. I would have to probably touch something else to get more of the story. I would say Stillson but he's, well, he's not very happy with me still. I don't think I could get near him. We'll have to find another way." Johnny rubbed his face with his hands.

"Brilliant! So, we don't have a plan at all?" the Doctor asked brightly.

Alex and Johnny looked at each other and shook their heads in unison.

"Fantastic, I never have a plan, and things always turn out right for me," the Doctor announced smugly as he stood up.

"So, what exactly do you think we should do next?" Johnny asked curiously.

"Trust me."


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6**

When Rose was finished talking on the phone the four of them gathered in the living room of Johnny's house.

"Mum's really put out with you Doctor," Rose said.

"I think I can take it," the Doctor answered. "Now, Rose, you stay with Alex. Use your phone and a computer, I assume you have a computer?" the Doctor turned to Johnny.

"Yeah, it's in the study, Alex knows where it is."

"Right. See if you can get some information of some kind on this toy that John saw. John, why don't you draw up a little picture of it to give them something to work with," he broke off at the sound of chuckling. "What? What did I say?"

"I can barely draw stick figures," Johnny answered, grinning. Alex was nodding in agreement.

"I've seen it, not pretty," she laughed.

"Thanks, thanks a lot," Johnny gave Alex a small punch in the arm.

"Well, at least give it a try. You're the only one who's seen this thing and you and I have something else to do."

"I think I can figure something out," Johnny conceded. He looked into Alex's eyes and then deliberately took her hand. They stood like that for a moment, then Johnny gave a slight shudder and let go. "Did you see it?"

"Yeah, and I'm sure I can draw it so both of us will recognize it." Alex included Rose with a gesture.

"Well, we're off. Keep your phone handy Rose, I'll be in the TARDIS."

"I will, and you had better take care," Rose admonished, pointing a stern finger at the Doctor. He nodded and grinned at Rose.

"Come on then, we're off." The Doctor made to put a hand on Johnny's shoulder and Johnny avoided it. "Right," the Doctor agreed. "Best not do that."

"We can take my car." Johnny pulled the keys off a small table and he and the Doctor left.

"So, the computer then?" Rose asked.

"Yeah, through here," Alex replied. The two of them walked into Johnny's study. "So, tell me, how long have you been traveling with him?"

"Oh, ages it feels like. We've been so many amazing places and I've seen so many amazing things and _done _so many amazing things. I really love it, I do. I miss mum of course, but most of the time I'm so busy that, well, I sort of forget about home a little."

"And I gather she doesn't like him very much," Alex commented.

"No, she does in her own way. She just worries about me, you know, out _there_. But the Doctor promised he'd always take care of me, that he'd always keep me safe." She shook her head. "So, can you draw this thing then, that Mr. Smith saw?"

"Oh, you can call him John, he doesn't mind at all." Alex waved her hand in a dismissive gesture. "Okay, let's see about paper."

Alex went to the desk and rummaged around for a notebook and a pencil and held them up with a triumphant smile.

"You don't live here with him, do you?" Rose asked.

Alex shook her head. "Naw, we're, I don't know what to call it really. We care about each other, a lot, but you know, we're not sure if we can really handle something more, intense I guess. You know, two psychics in a relationship…" she trailed off.

"Yeah," Rose said with a laugh, "I think I see your point."

Alex sat down and made a quick sketch of what she had seen in the shared vision. She held up the paper for Rose to see. "It's a funny little thing, isn't it?"

Rose looked at the paper and the smile fell from her face. "I'm not laughing."

Alex turned the paper and looked at it again and then looked back at Rose in confusion.

******

"Turn right here, yes, there," the Doctor pointed to show Johnny where he meant. Johnny turned and pulled into the driveway of an abandoned farm just outside of town.

"Now what?" Johnny asked.

"Now, we walk. The TARDIS is just over near that shed there."

Johnny turned off the car and they got out and walked over to the shed.

"Here we are then," the Doctor announced and pulled a key out of his pocket as they walked up to the blue booth that said "Police Box" on top.

"It's a phone booth," Johnny said. "What is a phone booth doing out here? We can't get in there."

"No, no, it's my TARDIS. Trust me, it's bigger on the inside."

"Whatever you say," Johnny said, still not quite believing.

The Doctor unlocked the door and stepped inside. "Well, come on if you're coming."

Johnny followed. And stopped. And stared. "This is unbelievable."

"Told you it was bigger on the inside," the Doctor said smugly.

Johnny walked around trying to look everywhere at once. "This, this, it's fantastic! It's, it's unbelievable."

"You said that already." Johnny just looked at him. "All right, now you said the government was going to develop this material to create a very small nuclear bomb, well, relatively small anyway. So, we need to go and find out more about that."

"Sorry for asking, but why would you want to help me anyway? I'm not trying to sound mean or anything but you don't even know me."

"Yes, well, as I said, I travel through time as well as space. I've been all sorts of places and seen all sorts of people. I like the Earth, I spent a lot of time here once a long time ago. Besides, it's not time yet. The Earth has years yet, so I need to make sure that it all works out. Who says I'm helping you? Maybe, you're helping me," the Doctor grinned.

"Okay," Johnny shrugged.

"So, where's the first place you think we should go, then?"

"I…" Johnny trailed off as a strange noise filled the air and the TARDIS began to move.

"Hey, that wasn't supposed to happen!" the Doctor cried, frantically working at the control panel.

"I thought you were doing that."

"No, it's not me." The Doctor kept pushing buttons and flipping switches and then slammed his hands down in frustration. "And I can't stop it. The TARDIS is moving, and I don't know where or how or why."

"I take it that's bad."

"Very," the Doctor said with a scowl, "very, very bad."


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7**

"I have to call the Doctor, right now," Rose said frantically.

"Hey, why, what's wrong?" Alex asked. Rose picked up the drawing and brandished at Alex.

"Because I've seen this before and it's trouble, trouble worse than you can imagine," Rose breathed. She began dialing her phone as Alex looked at the drawing.

"But, but it's just a toy, Johnny said, it's just a toy," Alex disagreed.

"Come on, Doctor, answer the bloody phone!" Rose slapped the phone against her palm in disgust. "He's not answering." She looked at the phone again. "No signal, what do you mean 'no signal'?" she screamed at the phone in frustration.

"Come on, we can use Johnny's phone, it's okay."

"No, it's not okay because this phone," Rose held up her cell phone, "this phone is the only one that will work. The Doctor did something to it, made it a super-phone." She dropped her hands to her side in disgust. "And he's not answering, which means something's wrong. Do you have a car?"

"Sure it's parked out front."

"Well, let's go then. I know where the TARDIS is, or was, we have to go there and see what's happening," Rose stated as she ran for the door. She turned back to Alex. "And you'd better bring that bloody drawing."

Alex snatched up the drawing and stuffed it in her jacket pocket as they ran out of the house. Alex followed Rose's directions to the abandoned farm outside of town where Rose said the TARDIS was. They saw Johnny's SUV but no sign of the TARDIS.

"Well, it looks like he's gone whatever," Rose said in a defeated tone as she kept looking at the spot where the TARDIS had been as if hoping it would be there.

"Well," Alex began.

"Yeah?" Rose prompted. "Look, if you have an idea, any idea at all tell me because I have no idea what to do."

"I could, well, see if I have a vision," Alex offered.

"Yeah, course, brilliant," Rose brightened.

"This Tardis thing was here right?" Alex indicated a slightly flattened patch of grass.

"Yeah, right there."

"Now, my power doesn't work exactly like Johnny's. My visions come most of the time from emotion energy and not necessarily from touch." Alex was waving her hands over the flattened area of grass.

"Yeah, okay, just anything, anything," Rose urged.

Alex's eyes widened as she saw a figure walking up behind Rose. She stood up and stared at the approaching apparition in amazement.

"I'm seeing something, there's someone there, just behind you, in the shadows right there," Alex said.

"What?" Rose jumped away and turned around, looking frantically at the spot where she'd just been standing and the small grove of trees that had been behind her.

"It's not a person exactly, it's more a spirit." Alex walked over to where the figure stood waiting. "Hello?" Alex said. "Who are you?"

The figure stepped closer and into the sunlight. Alex gasped. "I've seen you before, I know you."

"Who, who is it?" Rose asked nervously.

"It's one of those men," Alex turned to Rose, "remember, one of those past lives he mentioned before."

"What's he look like?" Rose wanted to know.

"Well, he doesn't look anything like the man you're with now. He looks sort of," Alex cocked her head as she studied him, "older I guess. He's got dark brown hair, just over his ears. He's wearing a sweater with," she tilted her head again, "with question marks all over it." She giggled.

Rose simply stared.

"He's wearing baggy sort of pants and a jacket and a hat and he's carrying an umbrella," Alex finished. "Oh, he's moving, over that way," Alex indicated the car. "I think, I think he wants us to follow him." Alex looked at Rose who could only stare back wide-eyed.

"Right, so, we're going to follow a ghost, a ghost of the Doctor's yeah? And go where, exactly?"

"I don't know, but I think to help us find the Doctor and Johnny."

"Sure, right, whatever, brilliant," Rose threw her hands up in surrender and started toward the car.

"Hey, look, this is what I do, this is how my abilities work." Alex paused as an idea came to her. "You, you didn't know about this did you?"

"About what?"

"About him and the whole different lives thing."

"No, no I didn't. There's actually a lot about the Doctor I don't know. He won't tell me very much about himself at all." Rose sounded sad.

"Uh huh," Alex replied as they got in the car and drove away from the farm.

******

The TARDIS shook and tilted before coming to an abrupt halt, flinging both its occupants to the floor.

"I think we've stopped," Johnny wheezed as he pulled himself up against a railing.

"Time to find out where," the Doctor spat through gritted teeth as he picked himself up off the floor and strode to the door.

"Wait, shouldn't you check outside somehow?" Johnny asked quickly.

"No, I want to know who did this to my TARDIS and see that they answer for it," the Doctor snarled.

"But, hang on," Johnny stuck his arm out in front of the Doctor. "Maybe, maybe I can look first," he offered.

"All right, be my guest," the Doctor said heatedly, backing away.

"Just, be calm," Johnny held his hand up to the Doctor in a back off gesture, then turned toward the door of the TARDIS. His hand shook slightly as held it just away from the door and slowly moved it in a circular motion. Then he took a deep breath and rested his palm flat against the door.

The Doctor watched as Johnny stood there for a moment and then reached out to grab him as Johnny jerked and stumbled away.

"No, no," Johnny held up his hand, still not wanting to touch the Doctor. "I'm okay. I don't think it's trouble, but who's to say. There's people out there, in some sort of military uniform, and they've got guns pointed right at us. And there's a woman out there, she looks like she's in charge but I don't," he broke off, "I don't _think _they're going to shoot us if we walk out there."

"Right then," the Doctor said in that near-angry tone again, "let's go meet the neighbors." He strode to the door, opened it, looked back at Johnny and then went through. Johnny sighed and followed after. Neither of them heard the phone in the TARDIS begin to ring behind them.

"Hold your fire!" the woman in charge commanded the soldiers as the Doctor and Johnny emerged from the TARDIS, the Doctor with his hands balled into fists at his side and Johnny's hands raised and open in surrender.

"Who are you?" the Doctor demanded.

"Well, I suppose I should have expected that," the woman replied dryly. Johnny noticed she had a British accent. And he thought the military uniforms were British as well.

"How did you bring me here and where is here?" the Doctor railed, flinging his hands out.

"Please, please calm down and I will explain," the woman said placatingly.

The Doctor folded his arms across his chest. "This better be good," he challenged.

"Oh, it's better than good," she replied with a smile. "It's brilliant."


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter 8**

"Where are we going?" Rose cried as Alex's car bumped and bounced its way through another field. "We're, well, it looks like the middle of nowhere, following some ghost so you say, but where the bloody hell are we?"

"I don't know," Alex yelled back over the sound of the car bouncing around. "He just points and I go in that direction. He doesn't seem to be in the mood for conversation."

"Great, just great," Rose muttered as her head bounced against the roof of the car. "This is ridiculous."

"I happen to agree," Alex shrieked as the car bounded down a small decline and came to a stop on a gravel road.

"Ooof." Rose sputtered.

"Oh, my butt," Alex moaned. With a quick shared look they both threw open the car doors and all but fell from the vehicle. Alex turned in a circle to take in their surroundings. "Oh yeah, this is definitely the middle of nowhere." She winced and turned back to the car. "He's gone!"

"Gone? What d'you mean, gone?" Rose shrilled as she stumbled to the car and peered inside.

"I mean gone, he's just… just faded away or something. I don't know, I can't explain it." She shook her head in dismay.

"Well, but, where are we? What are we going to do now?"

Alex peered critically at her car. "I think we're going to have to walk."

"Oh, that's just brilliant," Rose declared.

"Do you have a better idea?" Alex wanted to know.

"No," Rose answered, deflated.

They stepped away from the car and looked up and down the gravel road.

"See anything?" Rose asked hopefully.

"No, you?"

"No." Rose sighed.

"Maybe you could have another vision?" Rose suggested.

"I could try, but," Alex shrugged. She stood there a moment, thinking, then reached out and took Rose's arm. She looked around but saw nothing. She sighed. "I don't think it's going to work," she admitted.

Rose made a half smile and looked around again with a sigh. She pulled her phone out of her pocket and tried to call the Doctor again. Alex looked at her quizzically. Rose shook her head and put the phone away. They both folded their arms and gazed up and down the road again.

"Well," Alex finally said, "there has to be something around here. He wouldn't have just led us here and then left if we weren't close to where we need to be."

"Okay, yeah, sure," Rose perked up slightly.

"I'll go this way a little way and you go that way, call out if you see anything," Alex decided.

"Good idea," Rose agreed and began to walk up the road as Alex turned and walked down the road, the both of them still slightly unsteady on their feet.

******

The Doctor frowned steadily at the woman as she approached with her hand outstretched.

"Allow me to introduce myself, I'm Dr. McShane," she held her hand to the Doctor who just glanced at it then continued to frown at her. She shrugged and put her hand down. "We brought you here Doctor because we need your help," she explained.

"My help," he echoed flatly.

"Yes, and actually, your help too Mr. Smith," she looked at Johnny.

"My help? How can I help?"

"We know about you and what you can do. This is a special task force, you see, and our secret base," she gestured to include the building. "We're made up of several top scientists and top military special groups from all over the world. We're not a large force but then I don't think we need to be." She waved at the soldiers around her. "Some of these soldiers here are from various American military special forces and some from U.N.I.T., as I said, from all over. If you would follow me?" she asked, extending her arm and opening her hand to indicate the way.

"U.N.I.T.'s involved here, so that's how you know about me," the Doctor stated. "But that doesn't explain how you brought me here."

"Please, Doctor, come with me because we really do need your help. I'll explain more in a moment," she turned away.

"Is the Brigadier around?" the Doctor asked in a slightly snide tone.

"No, actually, not at the moment, although it was his idea we try to bring you here," Dr. McShane answered.

"So, tell me Professor," Johnny began as he strode up next to her.

"It's Doctor," she corrected firmly. "Not Professor, Doctor." She glanced behind her at the Doctor and kept walking.

"Sorry, Doctor, how is it exactly you know about me?" Johnny finished.

They were approaching an area with a largish table and some chairs.

"Please, have a seat," she offered, "would you like anything to eat or drink? I can have one of the men bring you something."

"A cup of coffee would be nice," Johnny agreed.

The Doctor stiffly shook his head and sat down, arms still folded defiantly and frowning at his surroundings.

"Bring some coffee," she said to one of the soldiers, who nodded and left. Johnny sat next to, but a seat away from the Doctor and Dr. McShane sat across from them. She leaned on the table.

"When all the news came out in the papers about you and the, er, obsession you have with Congressman Stillson and that um, rather interesting bulletin board in your basement, some people in some circles started asking questions. Most of us, whether we believe in psychics or not, have had some, exposure, for lack of a better word to things that are, well, outside the norm, like the Doctor here. We started to worry and to wonder. Everyone saw pictures of what you had on that board, we have several photographs of it here, in fact. We didn't like what we saw, but then, who likes the idea of the end of the world, yeah?" she cleared her throat, "I mean, right?"

"Well, yes, but I still don't get it. You created a whole secret organization just because you saw that stuff in the paper about me and that I think Stillson is going to cause Armageddon?"

"Not completely, no. Although it did have its place in the process, of creating a sort of starting point, I guess. At first, there were just a few of us, scientists mostly like myself, meeting informally, discussing the possibilities of how and why and could we stop it. Then, one of our number stumbled across some information, terrifying information." She looked at the Doctor. "That's when we knew, we would need your help. The Brigadier, he was involved by that time and we started putting this place together, and he said we had to get you. We had to find you whatever it took and get you here, because there is no way we can deal with this, not on our own."

"And why is that exactly?" the Doctor asked sarcastically.

"Because, we're dealing with aliens, Doctor. Aliens that well, we've seen before."

"What do you mean?" he asked, but a hint of curiosity had entered his voice.

She took off her glasses and laid them on the table.

"When I say 'we've' seen them before, I mean we, Doctor, you and I," she paused at the surprise spreading over his face. "Don't recognize me, Doctor? It's me, it's Ace, and I need your help because we don't think Greg Stillson on his own is responsible for Armageddon. He's working with aliens, Doctor. He's working with the Daleks," she said flatly.


	9. Chapter 9

**Chapter 9**

The room was dark. He sat there, in the recliner in the dark, drinking glass after glass of whiskey.

"Who gives a good God damn about her anyway?" he asked the darkness, "WHO?" He flung the glass at the wall and put his face in his hands. He could feel the wetness of the tears on his face and scrubbed at it with his hands. He sighed.

"Greg, you really need to get past this or we are going to have problems," a soft voice spoke out of the darkness.

Greg Stillson raised his head. "Leave me alone, Janus."

"No, Greg, we still have so much to do yet. My associates are becoming a bit, shall we say, impatient. Without our support, Greg, you will never get near the White House."

"Well maybe I don't want to be President," Greg snapped as he rose from the chair. He walked to the sideboard and poured another whiskey. "Maybe I just don't care anymore about any of," he broke off and waved the glass in the air, "any of this." He knocked back the liquor and slammed the glass down.

"Greg, Greg," Janus tsked. "I think perhaps, Greg, the time has come."

"Time for what?"

"For you to meet one of my associates. Perhaps then, the need for you to do what you are supposed to do would become more, clear."

"Yeah, right."

"Go and clean yourself up, Greg, and then, you will come with me."

"I'm going to bed."

Janus was across the room, pinning Greg against the wall with a hand at this throat before Greg could blink.

"I said, you will clean up and you will come with me. I will take you to meet one of my associates and you will learn more of your destiny."

"Okay," Greg choked out.

Janus held him there for a moment more and then let Greg go. Greg left the room to clean up and Janus began to straighten his tie and brush off his jacket as he watched Greg go.

******

"Well, now where do we go?" Rose panted.

"I thought we would have seen something by now," Alex gasped. "I really hadn't planned on a hike today."

"You and me both," Rose agreed. As she had done every time they had stopped over the last hour, Rose pulled out her cell phone and stuffed it back in her pocket in annoyance when there was no answer.

"You know, if my vision led us out here and we're assuming Johnny and the Doctor are, well, somewhere," Alex trailed off.

"Then what, if you have an idea clue me in because I am tired of being stuck in the middle of nowhere."

Alex pulled out her own cell phone. "No, I don't have service out here. I thought if Johnny had _his _phone with him I could try to call him. If they are out here maybe they're not in the Tardis anymore," Alex reasoned.

"Right, use mine then," Rose pulled her phone from her pocket and held it out to Alex, "super-phone remember?"

"Great." Alex took the phone and dialed Johnny's number. "It's ringing." She waited.

"Hello? Hello? Johnny, where are you? I can barely hear you… Johnny?" she turned to Rose. "Well, he answered but I could barely hear him." She looked around and handed Rose back her phone.

"That was more than I got."

"Maybe, but does the Doctor carry a cell phone?"

Rose shook her head. "Not usually."

"Let me have the phone again, I have an idea. If they're in trouble maybe I can get something from it."

Rose wordlessly handed Alex the phone. Alex held the phone enclosed in both her hands, closed her eyes and began turning in a slow circle. "Come on, come on," she muttered. She opened her eyes and pointed. "That way, I think."

"Well, what are we waiting for?" Rose pocketed the phone as they headed in the direction Alex pointed.

They were approaching a low hill when Alex stopped short.

"What, do you see something?" Rose asked.

"Look at that hill, does it look right to you?" Alex indicated the small hill in front of them.

"Well, I couldn't really say," Rose answered, gazing at the hill. "I suppose it looks a bit, round? Shouldn't it?"

"Not so much, if you compare it to the rest. I think this might be what we've been looking for. Come on." Alex trudged to the base of the hill, Rose close behind.

"Halt and identify yourselves," a voice commanded as they neared the hill.

Both girls stopped and raised their hands.

"Sorry, we were just hiking," Rose began.

A soldier stepped out from a hidden niche around the side of the hill. He leveled his gun at them.

"You're trespassing on military ground," he stated.

"We're sorry, we didn't see any signs or anything. We thought the hiking trail was over this way, we sort of left the path," Alex explained with chagrin in her voice.

The soldier put a finger to his ear and then lowered his gun. "Follow me," he said.

The girls looked at each other and shrugged, there was nothing for it but to follow. He led them around to the niche in the side and pulled a lever hidden behind some hanging roots. A door opened. Alex and Rose glanced at each other, startled.

"This way," the soldier said, "watch your step."

The girls preceded the soldier through the door.

******

"Ace?" The Doctor stood up and went around the table towards her. "It's really you?"

"Yeah, 'fraid so," she grinned and shrugged.

"But how did you get here? The last I heard you'd been…" he trailed off.

"Yeah, sent somewhere safe. Lady Romana got me out of the University, she told me something bad was going to happen and she needed to send me away. She gave me this," she held out her arm and showed the Doctor what looked like a decorative silver armband. "She put me in this little capsule and said she was going to send me home, to the right time. I often wondered about that," she finished softly.

"She got you out then, before the Time War."

Ace nodded.

"It's all gone Ace, Gallifrey, the University, everything, everyone. I'm the last, Ace, I'm the last of the Time Lords," he choked slightly on the last words.

"Oh, Doctor," Ace said, choking back a sob and hugged him. He broke off and held her at arm's length.

"Well, it's good to see you, I can't tell you how glad I am you're all right."

"You too, Doctor, you too. But I have to ask, what happened to your hair? Don't know if I can get used to you bald," she chuckled.

"So, tell me more."

"Okay," Ace sat back down. "Romana told me that I would need this sometime in the future and when the time came I would know. Doctor, I think she knew somehow. I think she knew about you, that you would survive."

"It wouldn't surprise me," he commented thoughtfully. "I often thought she knew a lot more than she let on."

"Sounds like someone else I know," Ace teased with a grin.

"So, Ace, can I call you Ace?" Johnny cut in.

"Yeah," she answered.

"You're from Earth and you were living on another planet and they sent you back here, through time?"

"You got it."

"Amazing," Johnny breathed. "And about these, Daleks, you called them?"

"Killers, destroyers, they won't be happy until the Universe is completely under their control, or destroyed which amounts to the same thing," the Doctor said with contempt.

"What do they look like?" Johnny wanted to know.

Ace stood up and picked a folder up from a nearby desk. She held it out to Johnny who took it and opened it. He stared at the photograph inside. "This, this is a Dalek?" he held up the picture.

The Doctor and Ace both nodded.

"Doctor, this is the thing I saw in my vision, the thing I thought was a toy. Doctor, Alex and Rose, we told them to look for it." Johnny stood up.

"Sit down, John, if Rose saw whatever drawing Alex may have made, she'll recognize it, count on that. She and I encountered a Dalek a while back on Earth. This man was keeping it as part of a collection of alien artifacts. It killed almost everyone there before it was stopped," he broke off. "That doesn't matter. What matters is that Rose will know, she's probably tried to contact me, to warn me. But they'll be fine for right now." He turned back to Ace. "I want to hear the rest of your story."

"Sure, well I landed back in England in that capsule about four years ago. I wasn't sure what to do at first, almost 20 years had gone by. So I went to London, to a college there to get a job. Lady Romana had set me up an identity based on me now and gave me a virus to put in the computer system so I would have the right records. I hadn't realized how technological everything had gotten but after the years I'd been at the University it wasn't hard to adapt. So, there I was, Dr. Dorothy McShane, a science professor at this school. Everything went along smooth, pretty boring actually, then one day I met this woman in a coffee shop. We'd ended up sharing a table cause the place was really crowded. She was a reporter and when she found out I was a science professor she started asking me all sorts of questions, practically grilling me." Ace grinned. "And then, well, I'm not really sure what I actually said. She asked me simple enough questions, nothing really unusual, just general chatting sorts of things like where I'd got my education. I told her that I'd met this man a long while ago and we'd travelled a bit and after a few years of learning from this man who I had taken to calling The Professor," she grinned impudently at the Doctor, "he took me to this private, exclusive school where I lived and studied science until I got my doctorate. I didn't really say anything I thought was too out of the ordinary but she had this look on her face. Well, we finished our coffee then and I had to go so we said goodbye and I didn't think any more of it. But I ran into her again a few days later. She remembers me, we exchange 'hi how are you's', you know, the usual bit. Then she says do I want to come to a little dinner party at her house, just a few friends, nothing fancy, and there would be some people I might find interesting to meet. So, sure I went. Turns out the friends she wants me to meet are Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart and a couple of scientists who work with him and they want me to come work for U.N.I.T. Said my scientific expertise would be quite valuable to them and they could really use someone like me and then the Brigadier just says straight out, 'especially someone who's travelled with the Doctor'."

"Fantastic," the Doctor breathed. "Just like that?"

"Just like that."

Johnny sat listening raptly to Ace's story. It was so unbelievable but then, he'd had plenty of experience with that. Occasionally, he glanced down at the photo of the Dalek and toyed with his cell phone that he'd pulled from his pocket with the idea of calling Alex, but Ace's story had gripped him.

"A few weeks later, I was working for them. A couple years later, we caught the story about you John, and the whole 'world-ending-thing'. That started the groundwork for this organization and then, a few months ago, we found out about the Daleks. I was actually the one unfortunate enough to find out about them. Not long after we got things sorted out here at this base in Maine, we started picking up rumors and whispers in certain secret circles. We heard of this group working with aliens on something. We didn't really want to believe it but of course, we did. We managed to get this organization back home called Torchwood to help us a bit with some surveillance on this group, they're the ones backing your man Stillson, by the way," she looked at Johnny, whose mouth hung open. "That Malcolm Janus is the one they've got hovering over him."

"Yeah, I know Malcolm Janus all right," Johnny commented darkly.

"I managed to spy on a few minutes of a secret meeting before their technology scrambled my gear. I saw the Daleks that night just before my monitors went dead and that's when I suddenly knew I needed to use this," she held her arm with the silver band on it up to show them again.

"What does it do exactly?" the Doctor asked.

"Primarily, it's for a sort of communications. Once I figured out how to get it open," she began pressing it in various spots with her fingers and the band opened to reveal an ultra-thin panel inside. "I worked out how to use it." She held her arm out to the Doctor.

"But it's so simple!" he exclaimed. "It's based on the primary principles of sending communications…"

"Between one TARDIS and another, yeah I know, brilliant eh?" she finished the sentence for him. "We learned all about it at University, so Lady Romana figured it wouldn't be too advanced for me to get working. The minute I got it functioning it started sending out a very low wave signal. I think it was contacting your TARDIS Doctor, I think it was already programmed to your specific wavelength, to contact your TARDIS and bring you here."

"So _that's _why we landed here instead of near Rose's house, that explains a lot. She does have a mind of her own sometimes," he said, looking over fondly at his TARDIS.

"And then, after this thing sensed you were here, we modified the signal to convince your TARDIS to bring you to us the next time you were inside."

Johnny's cell phone suddenly started ringing, startling all three of them. Johnny picked it up and looked at it. "I don't recognize the number," he said, confused.

"That shouldn't happen," Ace said in surprise. "We send out a disruption wave that jams the signal."

The Doctor peered over Johnny's shoulder. "That's Rose's phone, answer it." The Doctor looked at Ace. "I did some things to her phone so she could stay in touch with home while we're travelling, she calls it her 'super-phone'," he explained.

"Hello? Hello? Alex, is that you? I can barely hear you. We're fine though, we're talking to a scientist right now… hello?" Johnny shrugged. "Lost it, but I could hear Alex's voice, she must have borrowed Rose's phone."

"Watchdog to the Dog House, come in Dog House," a voice crackled over a radio lying nearby. Ace picked it up. "This is the Dog House," she answered into the radio.

"There's two women out here, they say they're just hiking but I'd swear they know where they're going."

Ace glanced at Johnny and the Doctor. "It's gotta be them," Johnny said.

"Better bring them inside, Stevens, I think our guests know them."

"Right, bringing them in."

Ace put down the radio, glanced at Johnny and the Doctor and then went to welcome their new guests.


	10. Chapter 10

**Chapter 10**

Janus escorted Greg into the darkened building. Greg looked around at the large open space dotted here and there with long tables and what looked like scientific equipment. "Are you ready?" Janus asked Greg.

"Let's just get this over with," Greg grumbled.

Greg followed Janus to an area that had been curtained off. Janus pulled aside the curtain and Greg went through the opening. A man sat at a desk in a circle of low light cast by the desk lamp. The man's face was slightly shadowed but Greg could see the ring glinting on the man's finger and recognized it as a twin to the one Janus wore. The man indicated the empty chair across the desk and Greg sat down. He then noticed there was, something, in the shadows behind the man but couldn't make out what it was. Perhaps some piece of equipment or something, he thought.

"It's good to finally meet you face to face, Mr. Stillson. I have thought this was something that needed to be done fairly soon. I'm sure you have many questions." The man's voice was low and even and without any trace of emotion or accent.

"I guess I must have," Greg answered, putting a bit of arrogance in his tone.

The man seemed unmoved.

"As Mr. Janus has no doubt told you, we have decided the time has come for you to learn more of your destiny," the man stated, again in that same flat, nearly toneless voice. "Therefore, if you will direct your attention behind me, you will meet one of your masters." The man gestured vaguely behind him and the shadows brightened somewhat, enough for Greg to see the, thing, that was behind the man.

"Wel-come-Mis-ter-Still-son-to-our-heeeead-quar-ters." The thing's voice was cold and mechanical and Greg felt a frisson of fear down his spine.

"Uh…" he began and looked over at Janus, who stood, bland and expressionless, next to him. Greg got the impression that Janus had seen this before. "Uh, thank you," he couldn't keep his uneasiness from his voice.

"You-will-come-with-uuuus. You-will-assist-uuuus. Our-asso-ciates-will-see-to-it-that-you-become-Pressss-i-dent-and-then-you-will-put-our-plan-in-mo-tion," the thing continued to explain.

"Wh-what plan is that exactly?" he asked uncertainly, but quite sure he didn't want to know.

"We-are-the-Daaaa-leks-and-we-will-rule-this-planet. You-puny-human-Still-son-will-do-this-and-then-you-will-help-us-ex-terrrrrr-min-ate-all-the-humans-and-this-planet-will-be-ours. If-you-do-as-you-are-told-we-will-allow-you-to-live-and-you-will-serrrrr-ve-us-like-these-other-huuuu-mans."

"What?" Greg couldn't keep the disbelief and horror from his voice. He felt Janus' hand clamp down painfully on his shoulder and winced.

"Daaaaa-leks-are-su-per-ior-to-hum-ans. We-will-rule-this-planet-you-can-not-stop-us. You-will-do-what-we-tell-you-or-you-will-die-now."

"Okay, er, where do I even start?" he still couldn't keep the unsteadiness from his voice. This was beyond horrifying. He was surprised he was as calm, if it could be even called calm, as he was.

"You-will-come-with-us-now-and-we-will-in-struct-you-in-what-you-will-do-and-un-til-it-is-time-for-you-to-be-come-Pressss-i-dent-you-will-fol-low-all-orders-you-are-giv-en-with-out-delay-or-ques-tions-do-you-und-er-stand??"

"Yes, I understand." He stood up and straightened his jacket self-consciously.

"Fol-low." The thing, the Dalek, ordered and it turned and moved noiselessly through the curtain behind it. Greg pulled at his tie, cleared his throat and then followed after it.

******

After Alex and Rose had been brought in and everyone introduced, they all seated themselves at the table while some food was brought in. A map of the Washington D.C. Area was spread out on the table and held down at the corners with cups and salt and pepper shakers.

"Their actual base is outside of the DC area," Ace explained, "roughly around here," and she indicated an area on the map. "I can't say with any degree of certainty because I was taken through some tunnels to get to it. However, I do remember where the entrance to the tunnels is and how to get to their headquarters through them." She pulled out another smaller, hand drawn map. "I managed to sketch a rough map of the way when I went there before. We've also managed to get some really wicked high tech equipment from Torchwood. Normally, they won't work with anyone but we have some fairly influential people involved in this project and they sort of put the pressure on." She led them over to another table along a wall. It was covered with various high-tech looking gadgets. She held one up to show them.

"With this, we've managed to enhance our scanning skills considerably. I had one of these things with me when I went to recce their headquarters. I got some very good scans of the Daleks and we've managed to isolate and analyze their forcefields. I've had some weapons development people working on something that should work on penetrating those forcefields so that we can take them out. I have also been working on a little project of my own."

She held up a small, disc-shaped metal canister. "Doctor, you remember my Nitro-9 of course." The Doctor nodded. "Well, I have been working on it, refining it and have now come up with something I am giving the very original name of Nitro-10," she said dryly with a smile. "It packs quite a bigger punch than Nitro-9. I've got these fitted with small receivers so that I can detonate from a good distance. They are small and very portable. I figure we scatter quite a few of these around when we hit their headquarters and then can safely detonate after we leave. The receiver will scramble any scanning equipment so they won't be detected as explosives until it's too late."

"When do we start?" asked the Doctor. "Do you have a plan?"

Ace smiled. "Actually Doctor, though I know it goes against your better nature, I do in fact have a plan. Let's get started shall we?"


	11. Chapter 11

**Chapter 11**

The five of them along with a small hand-picked crew of six of Ace's soldiers traveled to the location of the tunnel entrance in three, battered looking SUVs.

"We want to just blend in, look like hikers or something just out and about," Ace explained when she saw their faces at the mud splattered and well-beaten older model Jeep Cherokees.

They all climbed in and were soon headed to where Ace said the tunnel entrance could be located. All of them were geared up with small, easily hidden high tech devices for scanning, communication and protection.

"I feel kinda like James Bond," Johnny chuckled as he clipped on an unremarkable looking, thin armband of dark metal near his shoulder where it would be hidden by his jacket. Ace had explained that these armbands would generate a low level shield that would stand up to one, perhaps two direct shots from a Dalek blaster but would not be penetrated by most bullets and other energy weapons. The shield it generated would also interfere with most scanning devices the Daleks and their allies might have to keep them relatively invisible unless actually seen. All but Alex carried one of the guns that Ace said would work on Daleks. At her aversion to weaponry, Ace decided to have Alex in charge of various scanning devices and relaying information to the others of the party, and of course, they also had Alex and Johnny's gifts on their side.

Ace wanted Johnny to touch every member of the party to see what they could expect. He shook his head in denial and explained that his power didn't work that way and it would be better to wait until they were actually there and could do more to change things. He also did not want to touch the Doctor, Rose or Ace if he could at all avoid it, though he chose not to volunteer this information. He remembered how hard just a small bump from Rose had overwhelmed him and he did not want to be incapacitated when he might be needed.

Near dusk they finally pulled off onto a sort of road that was barely more than tire tracks mostly hidden by the long grass. The SUVs were parked among some trees and the soldiers covered them with camouflaged tarps and branches. Ace led them to some rocky outcroppings not far away. The entrance to the tunnel was a narrow cleft in one of the rocky outcroppings, the arrangement of the rocks and trees helping to make it virtually invisible. They would just fit through one at a time.

Two of the soldiers went first. Alex stepped in close behind followed by another soldier. Johnny stayed close behind Alex, holding her hand with a soldier at his side and then the rest of the group. Alex carefully shone her penlight around as she followed the soldiers and divided the sweep of her gaze between the walls around them and the small scanner she held in her palm. Johnny gently brushed his hands along the walls occasionally as they walked but had so far picked up nothing. They reached a large area where the tunnel branched off and Ace moved to the front to lead.

After what had seemed like hours in the gloomy, narrow tunnel but was only about 15 minutes Ace murmured into her com that they were getting close. Alex started to whisper a reply and Ace stopped her.

"A whisper carries too much," Ace breathed in a low, barely audible voice. "Try to just talk very low, like I'm doing."

"Okay," Alex agreed, copying Ace's manner of speech. "I'm picking up some human life forms and a lot of electronic activity directly ahead of us."

Ace consulted her small, hand-drawn map. Then she waved them all toward a small side tunnel to the right.

"This should take us around to where we can look at what they're up to without being spotted," she murmured into her com.

They followed her as it curved around and began to slope upward. They noticed the tunnel in front of them was lighter and followed Ace's lead as she raised her penlight and shut it off with a deliberate gesture.

"Now, the reason we'll be able to see what they're doing down there is this part of the tunnel has quite a lot of holes and cracks in it. Make sure you avoid passing directly in front of them. With the way the light from down there shines through all the cracks they may notice the movement up here. We'll go just a bit farther and then we can stop and have a look."

They all carefully navigated past the various cracks and holes as they walked through the tunnel. After another few minutes they reached an area where the light was dimmer and Ace motioned them to stop. She peered through a flattened oval shaped opening in the wall then looked up and waved the Doctor over.

He walked over and looked though as well. Johnny saw him stiffen and slightly curl his hands into fists. Johnny edged over near the Doctor to peek through. The opening was barely large enough for him to see but he did notice the inside of the cave was low here with an overhanging shelf of sorts that kept this opening they were at in shadows and would help keep them from being noticed.

Ace saw Johnny peering around and moved aside to let him look through. He looked down and saw the area below was one large open cavern dotted all around with computer banks and machinery… and what he now knew were Daleks. He counted at least 20 milling around busily down there. There was some sort of strange apparatus near one of the walls with a ramp leading up to it and on another wall there was a frame and Johnny nearly gasped aloud. Greg Stillson was lashed to that frame.

Johnny looked over at Alex and she looked back at him curiously.

"Stillson," he muttered and her eyes widened.

From the corner of his eye, Johnny saw the Doctor whirl away from the opening and cover his face with his hands. Rose approached him with her hand outstretched but he waved her away. Johnny looked at him, confused and edged away himself.

"I'm not going to do this!" Greg Stillson's voice echoing through the cavern startled all of them and the Doctor whipped back around to look through the opening. Johnny turned his head and looked as well.

"You-will-do-this-huuuu-man-be-cause-our-plan-must-succ-eeeed," one of the Daleks, larger than the others moved toward Stillson.

"No, this is crazy. Get me down from here," Stillson shouted.

"You-must-be-changed-huuu-man. When-you-are-more-Daaaaalek-you-will-un-der-stand."

"Get me down!" Stillson shrieked and Johnny could see spittle flying from his mouth. Stillson's face was red and he was straining against the straps that bound him. "This… this was never part of the deal!"

"I-said-we-would-show-you-your-deees-tiny-Still-son-and-that-is-what-we-are-doing. When-we-are-fin-ished-with-you-you-will-be-better-than-human-you-will-be-Daaaaalek."

"NO!" Stillson screamed as a fine wire mesh began to form around him from the framework and a cap of wires lowered from above onto his head.

"Your-emo-tions-make-you-weak-huuuu-man. We-will-remove-them-to-make-you-more-Daaalek."

Several machines in the cavern below whirred to life and all of them except the Doctor covered their ears against Stillson's shriek. Johnny slumped back against the wall but suddenly stood bolt upright. He grabbed Ace by the arm and shoved her ahead of him and started shoving the others ahead. Ace and Rose both stopped and looked at him.

"Move!" he snapped and they turned and ran. Johnny stopped and turned in time to see the wall containing the opening explode in a shower of pebbles from the Nitro 10 charge the Doctor had slammed against it. He gaped as the Doctor stood there, rocked back only slightly from the blast, and as all the figures down below turned in seemingly slow motion to look in their direction, the Doctor cried out-"STOP!"


	12. Chapter 12

**Chapter 12**

"Go, go," Johnny ordered the soldiers, gesturing them to run ahead. He turned, winced, hoped for the best and grabbed Rose by the arm as she was moving to go to the Doctor. "Rose, no, come on."

"But the Doctor, you don't understand, they'll kill him. I have to make him come with us."

"Rose, I don't think he will but I do know we have to get down there or we'll die here."

She looked at him and then back at the Doctor and nodded. "All right, let's go get some Daleks," she agreed grimly and the both of them ran.

Ace was ahead of them all and hurriedly winding through the tunnels unerringly, the others close behind.

"Nearly there, nearly there," she muttered to herself and stopped short at a door. She turned and looked back at them. "This is it," she said and stuck a small explosive to the door. She tapped her bracelet to activate the shield and they all did the same and then stepped back. The door blew open and they all ran into the cavern and scattered, diving behind machinery. Daleks whipped and whirled about, one or two firing off shots at them but most of them were focused on the Doctor.

The Doctor stood and stretched his arms out over his head. "You know me Daleks." The acoustics of the cavern made the Doctor's voice boom.

"You-do-not-be-long-here-huuuman. We-will-ex-terrrrr-minate-you," the lead Dalek declared.

The Doctor lowered his arms and gazed down at the Daleks, a crooked grin creeping across his face. "I am not a human," he said cheerily. "I am the oncoming storm," he shouted.

"It's-the-Doc-tor!"

"Ex-ter-min-ate!"

"Ex-ter-min-ate!"

"Ex-ter-min-ate!"

"Ex-ter-min-ate!"

All around Daleks were picking up the cry and began firing in his direction.

"Doctor!" Rose screamed starting to stand up. Johnny pulled her back down. The Doctor had gone.

"Come on," Johnny muttered through gritted teeth as he quickly pulled Rose over to where Ace and the others were.

Ace was directing her soldiers to fan out and place Nitro 10 charges wherever they safely could. Alex was gazing in Stillson's direction.

"They're killing him," she whispered to Johnny. "I know he's not a nice person but, we have to save him." She looked at Johnny pleading with her big eyes.

"Right now, he's the least of our problems. Look," he pointed at the strange apparatus on the wall. Daleks were coming through some sort of opening and down the ramp.

"More Daleks," Ace gasped.

"How?" Rose choked.

"It's a time portal. The Daleks are always trying to come up with little gadgets for travelling through time," came a voice from behind her.

Rose whipped around. "Doctor!" she cried and threw her arms around him. "You're alive."

"Course I am," he grinned at her tearstreaked face.

"I thought they'd killed you," she accused.

"Nah, not me. But they'll keep trying," he replied smugly, still grinning. His face turned serious again. "But we do have to destroy that machine."

"I have plenty of Nitro 10 left, that should do the job," Ace offered.

"I'm not sure, it might be tricky," the Doctor cautioned. "I need to get a closer look."

"Right."

Ace jumped up and began firing at a couple of Daleks moving in the direction of where they were hiding.

"Not such a small human female anymore!" she cried as she dove for cover behind another bank of machines as Daleks fired back at her. She leapt up again and moved across the room. Leaping, firing and back into cover, yelling taunts at the Daleks as she did so. The Doctor shook his head and peered around to get a look at the apparatus.

"It's clear, come on," he took Rose by the hand and they started moving slowly but surely across the room, keeping down to avoid the Daleks.

"I'm going after Greg. I can't let anyone die like that," Alex stated.

"Alex, no," Johnny argued and grabbed her arm. She shook it off and headed in Stillson's direction. Johnny sighed in exasperation and gestured the one soldier still with them to follow her as he set off after the Doctor and Rose.

"How do you like that pepperpot?" he heard Ace yell as she leapt up and fired at more Daleks. Johnny looked up and noticed the other soldiers were also firing at the Daleks as they crept around placing the explosives. He shook his head and started to move off after Rose and the Doctor again and found his way blocked by a pair of legs. He looked up and into the face of Malcolm Janus.

"Well, well, Mr. Smith, we meet again."

Johnny dropped his head and stood up. Before Janus could react Johnny lashed out and landed a hard right on Janus' face. Janus dropped like a stone and Johnny shook his fist out.

"Oh, that hurt," he looked at his hand and rubbed it to make sure it was okay, "but it felt sooo good." He suddenly dropped to the floor as out of the corner of his eye he saw a Dalek turn in his direction. He quickly rolled behind another console, got on his hands and knees and slowly peeked around as he pulled out his weapon and fired at the Dalek, blowing the top off of it. He pocketed the weapon again and started making his way over to the apparatus.

He quickly took note of the soldier he'd sent with Alex firing at several Daleks that were moving in Stillson's direction.

Johnny finally made it to where the Doctor and Rose were hidden, looking over the controls of the machine hooked to the apparatus. Ace, he noticed, had joined them.

"So it's only one way?" Ace was asking.

"Yes, they probably have a hideout somewhere in the past creating new Daleks and this portal brings them here. Whichever Dalek is in charge would want them all the same and subservient to it. Brilliant!"

The Doctor was marveling over the controls. Johnny moved up and risked a look back at the cavern. The firefight was still going strong but the soldiers were doing a good job of keeping the Daleks that remained occupied. Ace would occasionally take aim and fire at a Dalek coming through the portal.

"So can you destroy it?" Johnny asked.

"Yes," the Doctor answered. "It will be destroyed when this place is blown up but we should definitely be away from here when it happens. A random shot fused the controls and I can't shut it down." The Doctor sighed. "When this thing explodes, we could all be sucked in. At least whatever they have going on in the past should be destroyed as well."

"But you said it's only one way," Ace argued as she fired at another Dalek.

"Yes, I did. But I also said it's tricky. Rose, go and help Johnny get to Alex and get that man out of here and call the soldiers on the com and tell them to get out of here too."

Rose and Johnny moved off toward Stillson as Ace and the Doctor crept along either side of the ramp to the apparatus to place the charges.

The soldiers had started edging their way to the blasted open hole where the door had been. Unfortunately, the tapering off of the firefight meant the few Daleks remaining were no longer distracted and they were rapidly moving toward Stillson, where, Johnny saw, Alex was busily slicing away at the mesh and the straps that bound him with a knife she'd gotten from the soldier who was guarding her.


	13. Chapter 13

**Chapter 13**

"Do-not-tam-per-with-Still-son-hu-man-fe-male," the lead Dalek ordered as it glided up to Alex and trained its blaster on her.

She whipped around, brandishing the knife. "No, you're killing him," she spat defiantly.

"No-we-are-making-him-like-Dalek. Daleks-are-su-perior-to-all-other-life-forms. He-will-ful-fill-his-des-tiny-as-a-Dalek-not-a-weak-huuuuu-man."

"I'm not letting you touch him. I'm getting him out of here and away from you monsters."

"No-you-will-step-aside-or-I-will-exteeeeer-min-ate-you."

"You can try!"

"Alex, no!" Johnny screamed. He knocked Rose aside in his haste and ran towards Alex, trying frantically to pull his weapon from his pocket but it was stuck. Rose lost her balance and fell against a console, her head rebounded off the metal of the console and she dropped to the floor unconscious.

The soldier with Alex stepped in front of her and raised his gun. The Dalek fired first and the soldier slumped to the ground–dead. Alex trembled as the Dalek once again focused on her. The other three remaining Daleks were gathering behind their leader.

"Dalek, stop, don't kill her," Johnny shouted, giving up on his weapon and holding his hands out in front of him.

The Dalek swiveled around and looked at Johnny.

"Ex-ter-min-ate!" the other Daleks chorused.

"No, no, don't kill me either. We can see the future, she and I. We are humans with powers, powers to tell the future." Johnny waved his hands in front of him a little and tried to sound mysterious. Ace and the Doctor peeked up from behind the ramp, looked at each other and looked at Johnny.

"What-do-you-mean-human?" the Dalek inquired.

"Just what I said, I'm psychic. I touch things and can see their past or their future."

"Show-us," the Dalek ordered as it and all the other remaining Daleks focused their attention on Johnny.

Alex, keeping one eye on the Daleks, began to quietly slice away at Stillson's restraints.

Johnny carefully approached the Dalek leader. "I have to touch you," he said, slowly reaching out his hand.

The Doctor opened his mouth to tell Johnny to stop but Ace grabbed his arm and shook her head. He shrugged and closed his mouth.

"You-may-approach-hu-man," the Dalek allowed finally.

"Okay, here goes," Johnny sighed and stepped toward the Dalek, hesitantly brushing his fingers on the Dalek's exterior.

"What-do-you-see?" the Dalek demanded.

Johnny frowned and touched the Dalek again.

"What-is-it-huu-man?" the Dalek demanded impatiently.

"Um, I'm actually not getting anything. I have to say though I don't get visions on demand. Sometimes I see things and sometimes I don't."

"Is-this-a-trick-hu-man? It-will-not-save-your-life," the Dalek stated.

"I'll tell you your future Dalek," a voice piped up from across the room. The Dalek swiveled around in the direction of the voice. The Doctor stood towards the end of the ramp leading from the time portal, his arms defiantly folded across his chest.

"Doc-tor!" the Dalek nearly raged. "Ex-ter-min-ate!!!"

The other three remaining Daleks took up the chant.

"Enough!" the Doctor broke in.

"You-should-not-have-shown-your-self-Doc-tor. You-should-have-stayed-hidden-like-the-cow-ard-you-arrrrre," the Dalek taunted.

"I will not allow you to harm these humans or this planet," the Doctor said flatly.

"You-can-not-stop-us-Doc-tor."

"Yes, actually, I can. Your time portal there is only one-way and it's not working now because the controls are damaged. You are just four Daleks, trapped where you don't belong and with no real power on your side for back up. And you," the Doctor spat, approaching the Dalek who was in charge, "are no Davros. You are just an opportunistic, pathetic little power grabber with no real authority."

"Care-ful-Doc-tor-I-can-ex-ter-min-ate-you," the Dalek replied, clearly becoming agitated.

"No, you can't. I am the Doctor and I do not fear you, but you should definitely fear me," the Doctor said in a low, dangerous voice. "I AM the oncoming storm."

At that particular moment, one of the charges placed nearby detonated, blasting two of the Daleks into shrapnel. Johnny managed to spin and yank Alex and Stillson inadvertently with her, to the floor. After making sure Alex was okay he noticed Rose lying on the floor not too far away. He crept over to her and dragged her back over to where Alex was making sure Stillson wasn't too damaged from the restraints that she hadn't managed to finish cutting away before Johnny had dragged her down.

Johnny looked back toward the time portal device and saw Ace giving him the thumbs up. He quickly waved back at her and looked back towards the Doctor. He almost laughed at the sight of the lead Dalek and its remaining lackey backing slowly away from the Doctor as the Doctor advanced on them. Johnny noticed that the Doctor was carefully pushing them in the direction of the time portal. Johnny leaned over and whispered to Alex.

"We have to get Rose and Stillson near the entrance so we can get them out of here. I lied to that Dalek. This place is going to blow soon and if we don't hurry we'll be trapped."

"What about the Doctor?" Alex whispered back as she grabbed hold of Rose to drag her to the door.

"I wouldn't worry about him," Johnny replied and grabbed hold of Stillson.

"You see, Dalek, you do fear me," the Doctor stated as he implacably approached the retreating Daleks.

"We-fear-noth-ing-we-are-Daaaaa-leks."

The Doctor laughed and the underling Dalek swiveled its weapon and aimed at the Doctor. The Doctor casually reached out and shoved the weapon aside.

"You-do-not-fear-us?" the lead Dalek asked.

"Why should I? You are nothing. Less than nothing," the Doctor said, his voice dripping with condescension.

"We-are-not-noth-ing. We-are-Daleks."

"Doctor! NO!" Ace cried out from where she crouched near the time portal.

The Daleks swung around, startled, and fired, hitting the time portal. The time portal began to glow. A reddish light emanated from the center of the archway. The Daleks began making a noise something like a scream.

"Ace, let's go!" the Doctor bellowed.

"I'll be right behind you," she replied and started pushing the two highly agitated Daleks a bit closer to the portal.

The Doctor turned and ran to the door where Johnny and Alex were waiting with Rose and Stillson still unconscious.

"Get them out of here," the Doctor ordered and turned back to look inside after Ace. "Ace, come on!"

"Right there!" she called back as she stuck a small gadget onto each Dalek. "Now you're not going anywhere!" she crowed and reached down next to the portal ramp to pick up her knapsack just as the reddish light emanating from the time portal flared and the portal exploded.


	14. Chapter 14

A/N I will be posting Chapters 14 and 15 and the Epilogue...Enjoy

**Chapter 14**

"ACE!!" the Doctor roared as a howling, screaming wind lashed around the command center.

"Doctor, we have to get out of here. The Nitro 10 is going to detonate any minute now!" Johnny screamed over the gale.

"Ace!" the Doctor cried back at Johnny, pointing in the direction of the portal.

Johnny ran as best he could to the Doctor and noticed a whirling vortex where the time portal had been. Loose bits of debris and furniture were moving towards the vortex, clearly being sucked in.

"Doctor, look, we have to get out of here before that thing sucks us in," Johnny said in the Doctor's ear, indicating the whirling vortex.

The Doctor turned and looked, his eyes growing wide. "But Ace is over there."

Johnny looked at the Doctor helplessly and peered as best as he was able through the chaos for a glimpse of Ace.

"Doctor, get out of here!" Ace's voice finally broke through the screaming of the wind. Johnny and the Doctor looked and finally saw Ace clinging to a console.

"Ace, I'm going to come and get you hang on!"

"Doctor, no!" Ace ordered. "You have to get out of here." She carefully unwound an arm from the console and reached into her knapsack. She pulled out a Nitro 10 charge and held it up for the Doctor to see. "I have to go through it, Doctor. It has to be destroyed from the other side."

"Ace, no, you don't have to go!" the Doctor cried, tears beginning to stream down his face.

"Yes, I do. I can't be sure they'll detonate on their own and I don't know if the transmitter will reach them on the other side. I have to stop this before everything goes. You have to get out of here, it's getting stronger."

"Ace, no!" the Doctor's voice broke.

"Johnny, get him out of here, please. I can't hold on much longer and I have to make sure this place blows before I go through to take care of the other side! Please hurry!"

Johnny saluted her smartly, unshed tears for this brave woman burning his eyes. He overcame his reluctance to touch the Doctor and grabbed him by the arm and began to drag him to the entrance.

"Doctor come on, she's trying to save our lives here. Don't let her sacrifice be wasted!"

The Doctor looked at Ace and then at Johnny. Johnny could see the horror and pain in the Doctor's eyes but then they changed to resigned understanding and he followed Johnny as they fought against the pull of the vortex and dodged debris as it whipped by to get to the entrance. The Doctor looked back one last time at Ace and raised his hand to her.

"Go!" she screamed at him and he turned and stumbled blindly after Johnny through the winding tunnel toward the exit. "I'll never forget you Doctor," she sobbed to herself. "You were the best friend and teacher I ever had."

She watched them stumble out and clung grimly to the console that was now threatening to break free from repeated impacts by other pieces of furniture whirling toward the vortex. She counted in her head, hoping they were moving quickly out. She had to hang on long enough to give them a chance before she blew the place. She risked a quick glance at her watch. Had it been enough time? She gritted her teeth and held on. Just a little longer. Just to make sure.

She heard the shriek of metal tearing and felt the console shake. She would have to let go before the console did. She had to hit the transmitter before going into the vortex and the console might interfere. Check the watch again. It had to be now. She took a deep breath and unwound her arm. The force of the vortex jerked at her and she nearly let go. She carefully placed her fingers over the transmitter, looked back toward the vortex to see if the area was clear and let go. An involuntary scream escaped her but she determinedly tightened her hand on the wrist control, causing her fingers to activate the transmitter. She saw the first of the charges detonate before she flew through the vortex and into blackness on the other side.


	15. Chapter 15

**Chapter 15**

The others staggered out of the cleft in the rocks as the first of the explosions began behind them.

"We better get away from here quickly, the whole thing could come down on us," Johnny said, helping Alex support Stillson and moving a little faster down the path. Rose was finally starting to come around as they reached the vehicles but the Doctor clung to her as if afraid to let her go. The whole area began to shake with the destruction of the underground base.

"What happened?" Rose mumbled.

"It's over, that's all that matters," Alex answered, patting her hand.

The Doctor gave Alex a strange look at her answer to Rose's question but seemed preoccupied and unwilling to pursue it. Johnny started opening the vehicle doors and managed to wrestle Stillson into a back seat and get him belted in.

"Everybody in," Johnny said. "We're not in the clear yet."

They all climbed quickly into the SUV and Johnny floored the gas and drove the SUV at top speed back to the main road.

It seemed to take hours to explain everything that had happened back at Ace's headquarters but finally it was understood that the danger was past and they were allowed to leave. They left Stillson in the care of the medical facility. There was considerable damage to his memory and Johnny breathed a small sigh of relief that Stillson wouldn't remember anything. It seemed that Rose also couldn't remember much from the bump on the head she'd received during the fight. Surprisingly, the Doctor looked relieved.

They were all quiet as Johnny drove them back to where the TARDIS was hidden. When they got there the Doctor pulled Johnny aside.

"Do you think she's okay?" the Doctor asked.

"Who Rose? She's fine I think," Johnny began.

"No, not Rose. I know she'll be okay, especially if she doesn't have to remember most of this nightmare. I'm talking about Ace," the Doctor broke in.

"Well…" Johnny hedged, not sure if he wanted to answer or not.

"Tell me, please," the Doctor nearly begged.

"She's alive. That's all I know. I had a vision and if she hadn't done what she did we would all be dead right now."

"Do you know where she is?"

"No, not exactly, only that she's on the other side of that portal wherever that is, but alive."

The Doctor sighed. "At least there's that."

"You can't help everyone Doctor. I've learned and had to live with that if nothing else."

The Doctor looked at him and seemed about to make a comment and then thought better of it.

"Yes, I guess you would." He heaved a great sigh. "Well, I guess it's time to get back out there."

"Thank you for your help Doctor. I'm not sure I would have managed this otherwise."

"I think you could have. You still would have had Ace helping you I would imagine."

"Maybe, maybe not, Doctor," Johnny said. He looked over at where Alex and Rose were exchanging tearful goodbyes and phone numbers.

"It was nice meeting you Johnny, even if I can't remember a lot of it," Rose laughed. She made as if to hug him, paused and then shrugged and hugged him anyway.

"It was nice meeting you too," he told her when they'd parted.

The Doctor opened the door of the TARDIS and looked expectantly at Rose. "Ready?"

"I am so ready," Rose replied, bouncing over to the door.

"Take care, both of you," Alex said.

"We will," Rose replied and the Doctor rolled his eyes at her tone and shook his head.

"Watch out for the bad wolf," Alex and Johnny both blurted out at the same time, earning them strange looks from Rose and the Doctor. They looked at each other and then back at the Time Lord and his companion. They both shrugged.

"No idea where that came from," Johnny remarked.

"Huh-uh," said Alex, just as confused.

The Doctor and Rose gave one last wave and went into the TARDIS and shut the door and a few moments later the TARDIS came to life and faded away.

"Well," Johnny said with a great sigh and turned to Alex. "THAT was interesting."

"To say the least." Alex giggled. "That's probably been one of the most bizarre times in my life, and I have had a few."

Johnny smiled back at her.

"Do you think we'll ever see him again?"

Johnny noticed that Alex didn't include Rose in the question but chose to ignore it.

"I have no idea," Johnny paused, "and I don't actually want to know." He took her by the hand. "And now," he said expansively, "I think what we really need are a couple of seriously huge cheeseburgers."

"And chocolate shakes," Alex smiled and they walked back to Johnny's vehicle with their arms about each other's waists.


	16. Epilogue

**Epilogue**

Ace sat up slowly, aching over every inch of her body. She groaned and slowly shook her head and looked around. Her uniform was covered in scorch marks and small burn holes but was otherwise okay. The charred wreck of her knapsack lay a few feet away.

She was lying in a field some distance from what had been the crudely built headquarters of the Daleks at the other end of the time portal. This side had been deserted either because all the Daleks had gone to the other side or had found some other means of escape. Her head hurt too much right now to dwell on it. But she remembered dropping her knapsack and half running/half falling to the lopsided wooden door of the badly made stone building. The resultant explosion of the remaining Nitro 10 in her knapsack had reduced the poor hut to rubble and thrown her a short distance away, her knapsack by some freak chance spat out after her, almost an afterthought.

She rubbed her face and ran her fingers through her hair. She seemed fine except for some small scratches on her face but she was shaky and needed water. She tried to stand but her legs seemed unwilling to cooperate just then so she sank back down on the soft grass with a sigh.

"Excuse me, do you need some help?"

The voice came from behind her but she hadn't heard anyone approach. At least it wasn't the voice of a Dalek. She carefully turned to look behind her, shading her eyes from the bright sunlight on her face. She looked up into a handsome, chiseled face with dark hair that fell across his brow just so. The face smiled charmingly at her as she stared in awe.

"I could use some water," she managed to finally say, "and a hand up."

He held his hand down to her and helped her get to her feet, this time her legs were willing, though she swayed a bit. He held out a canteen and she took a long drink.

"Thanks," she said. "I don't suppose you could tell me where I am?"

"Looks to me like you're near where there was a very big explosion. Was that your doing?" he asked, the grin still playing on his mouth.

She cleared her throat. "Um, well…"

"I can tell you're not from around here," he said, eyeing her up and down in a way that made her blush. "So, to better answer your question, you're in France, in the late summer of 1869."

Ace's mouth dropped open in shock then she recovered. "I guess you're not from around here either." She took a wild guess. The grin widened and he shook his head.

"Not in any way, shape or form. I'm just wandering around now for no good reason. I got stuck here by accident, well not entirely but that's close enough."

"I did too I think. Damn," she paused. "Oh, sorry, I really appreciate your help. I'm Ace," she held out her hand for him to shake and he took it and kissed it.

"Pleased to meet you, I'm Captain Jack Harkness."

**THE END**

Authors Note: I wanted to put a snippet in at the end so we see for her it's her first meeting with Capt. Jack but he already knows her. Hope you enjoyed the story and please let me know! Thank you for reading!


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